Hope everyone had a happy 2003! Kev's News is now six months old. (Obligatory holiday picture link below):

Lots of end-of-year lists popped up here and there. Here's a few:

The 2003 year in pictures, from the San Francisco Chronicle:

"10 Ads America Won't See"

Ten controversial ads that won't be seen in the U.S.:

The top 50 singles of 2003 The best not-so mainstream songs from the hip Pitchfork Media:

Favorite antipop CDs of 2003 Tired of mainstream music? How about great jazz/world/folk/acoustic fusion? Highly recommended are David Tanenbaum, Tord Gustavsen, and the Be Good Tanyas. Of course, Richard Thompson is always good as well. Check out the MPEG-4 samples here:

Does anyone in Oahu need a free business-class RICOH FT7870 copy machine? I'm not sure if it's been sold yet:

Or just check out the "free" section at Craigslist Honolulu - pick up a free HP color inkjet (good model too) and fax machine:

Spamming and phishing The PayPal email scam - and other fake corporate email scams - are getting more insidious lately. Beware! The term for this is "phishing", and attacks increased by 400% in the last two weeks:

Yet another victim of the Nigerian Email Scam. It's become or 4th or 5th largest industry there! This article has interesting details on how it's done these days, involving dozens of actors, props, and chemicals:

63 percent of Americans are now online:

While browsing the Be Good Tanyas site, I noticed that their latest album was released with "Copy Control Technology" against their wishes:

Note that this "Copy Control Technology" stuff is easy to circumvent if you have the right software.

Power adapters one-fourth of their current size will be mass-produced next year, thanks to new piezoelectric technology:

A new electric "in-wheel" engine can make vehicles up to 50 percent more efficient and is being tested on a city bus in the Netherlands:

"Fax - the technology that refuses to die"

There were 40% more faxes last year than in 2001! ?Que pasa?

"Satellite Radio Is On The Rise"

One company expects 1.2 million subscribers by year's end:

The National Park Service is altering footage of demonstrations at the Lincoln Memorial, removing anti-war protests and replacing them with pro-war and religious rallies that didn't even occur there:

"Japan's Empire of Cool: Country's Culture Becomes Its Biggest Export"

Japan's culture is getting popular and is being exported all around the globe:

An article about Apple's Jonathan Ives, who designed the iPod, iMac, PowerBook, and lots of other stuff. He just received one of the most prestigious awards for industrial design: